Zapier

Knowledge Base → Add-Ons → Automation → Zapier

Connect your forms with hundreds of different applications through Zapier. You can do anything from inserting a new row in a Google docs spreadsheet, posting on Twitter, or adding a new Dropbox file - all through a Formidable form. Please note, you must set up a Zapier account in order to use this add-on.

Get Better Forms FREE!

Download and Install

To access this add-on, ensure you have the Business license or above.

If you haven't already, install and activate the current version of Formidable Forms Premium on your WordPress site.
After confirming your Formidable Forms license, proceed to the Formidable → Add-Ons page and click the Install button for the Zapier WordPress plugin.

Set up Zapier API Integration

Now that the Zapier plugin is activated, you'll need to connect your Zapier account. To do this, follow the steps below.

Go to your Zapier dashboard and make a Zap.
Choose Formidable Forms as the app.
Choose an event when the Zap will trigger, either new or delete an entry.
Choose an existing Formidable Forms account from the dropdown or add a new account.
Follow the instructions in the popup window to connect your Formidable Forms app account to Zapier.

Note: Your Site URL must match the Site Address (URL) you have added in your WordPress settings.
You will need your API key, which can be found on the Formidable → Global Settings → API tab and your site URL (including the http:// and the trailing /) to set up your first Zap.
Make sure you are NOT using the default WordPress permalinks. If you're not sure, go to the WordPress Settings → Permalinks page to check. You will get 404 errors in Zapier when you try to authorize your Zap if you use default permalinks.

Need ideas? Take a look at a few of the most popular Formidable zaps.

Sending entries from repeater

If you need to send entries from a repeater field, you can use Formatter by Zapier to convert the line items into text strings.

Create your sample entry in your form containing the maximum rows in your repeater.
Create your zap in Zapier.
Add a new action and select Formatter by Zapier.
Under App & Event, choose Utilities as the Event.
Under Action, choose Line-item to Text as the Transform option. In the Input box, search and select the repeater field.
Under the Test step, click the Test Step button to test if the Action is working as expected.

Zapier form settings

When a Zap is created in Zapier, it will automatically create a form action in the selected form.
You may give your Zapier action an Action Name for easy reference. This name will only be seen on the back-end.
Trigger this action when:
- Select Entry is created if you would like to trigger the Zap when the user submits the form.
- Select Entry is deleted.
This is set from the created Zap. Changing this setting will not change the setting in Zapier.
Zapier Webhook URL: The Zapier forms plugin will automatically fetch the Webhook URL when you create a Zap.
Conditional logic can be used to trigger the Zapier action only if specific conditions are met.
Setup Automation can be used to schedule your Zapier form actions.

Limitation

It is currently not possible to pass the Summary field to Zapier.

Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing any "authorization failed" errors or issues connecting Formidable Forms to Zapier, please ensure you have done the following three things:

Update Wordpress to the latest version.
Update Formidable Forms and the Zapier add-on to their latest versions.
Contact your hosting provider and ensure Basic Authentication is enabled on your server. If needed, work with your host to see if they can enable Basic Authentication on your server or provide you with instructions on how to do so.

Authorization failed: (404) Not Found

Have you installed the Zapier add-on?
Did you enter your site URL correctly in the Zapier settings? Be sure to include the trailing slash on your URL.
Be sure that you are NOT using the default WordPress permalinks. If unsure, go to the WordPress Settings → Permalinks page to double-check.
If your URL is correct, visit the URL yoursite.com/frm-api/v1/ping/. If this page is accessible, you should see this message when logged out:
{"error": "Your API key is missing."}
If you see a 404 page, triple-check that Formidable Zapier is listed on your plugins page and is active. Then, check for plugin/theme conflicts.
If the problem continues on a clean site, open a support ticket so we can help.

Authorization failed: Your API key is missing

If you entered your API key and still see this message, then your server may not have basic authentication enabled. Please follow the steps below to resolve the issue.

Your server may be configured in CGI or Fast CGI mode. If so, add these extra lines in your .htaccess file (Just before #Begin WordPress) to resolve this.

Note: Some servers may have more than one .htaccess file in different folders. Please use the .htaccess file in the lowest folder. For example, if you are seeing htaccess files in the /root folder and /wp-json folder, use the .htaccess file in the /wp-json folder.

For people who host with GoDaddy and SiteGround, their support suggested adding a slightly different line than the one in the link above.
The original .htaccess file has these lines:
```
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
```
With the suggested extra line added:
```
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteBase /
```

For people using other hosts, an alternative would be to use these extra lines in your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=REMOTE_USER:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
SetEnvIf Authorization "(.*)" HTTP_AUTHORIZATION=$1
RewriteBase /

If step one does not resolve the issue, install the Application Passwords plugin.
Go into edit your profile on your site. Generate a new password under the "Application Passwords" section. Give it a name like "Formidable Zapier". Copy the password that is generated and save it somewhere where it won't get lost. Please note: If you have any errors when generating the password, please reach out to your webhost to let them know what the error message says.
Create a new post on the site. This post will get deleted, so don't spend too much time on it.
Test Zapier again at this point. If it works now, you're good to go! If not, proceed to the next step.

Authentication failed: Connection aborted

If you are getting this message after trying to connect to Zapier from Formidable as well as from Postman, then there is likely a firewall on your computer or network that is blocking the connection.

If the fallback option didn't work, the issue might be caused by your server firewall blocking the dynamically generated IP addresses used by Zapier. Try the following steps to resolve the issue:

In Zapier, go to your Apps and try reconnecting to Formidable forms. Make sure there are no extra spaces when you copy and paste your API key.
Disable any firewalls on your computer or on your network.
Contact your host to see if they can disable any server firewalls.

Authentication failed: Unable to verify the first certificate

If you are getting this message after trying to connect to Zapier from Formidable, then there is likely an issue with the SSL certificate on your site. If you are unable to resolve this issue by contacting your host or the service that set up your SSL certificate, try the following steps:

Go to your settings in Zapier
Click on SSL
Click Disable SSL Certificate Checks
Contact your host and find out what Certificate Authority (CA) they use for their SSL certificate, and check it against this list of Zapier-trusted CAs
If your CA is not on the list, contact Zapier support and request that they add your CA to that list, and then turn the SSL Certificate Checks back on

Authentication failed: 401 Error

If you experience a 401 error, make sure that HTTP Authentication is not blocking the webhook URL.

Postman test

Postman is one of the most helpful tools for troubleshooting and testing API requests. Follow the instructions below to get started.

Download Postman and create a new request.
Set the request type to DELETE and the URL to yoursite.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/##. Replace ## with the ID of the post you just created.
In the Authorization section, select "Basic Auth". Your username is the API key and the password is x.
Click the Send button.
If the post is deleted, your Basic Auth setup is good. If not, use the fallback option to adjust your htaccess in order for Basic Authentication to work on your server.

Fallback option

If you are unable to set up Basic Authentication for your site using the steps above and continue to see the Your API key is missing message, use this fallback option:

Add this line in your theme functions.php or in the Code Snippets plugin:
```
add_filter( 'frm_zap_url_auth', '__return_true' );
```
When you authenticate in Zapier, add your API key to the url. So instead of https://yoursite.com/ you will use https://yoursite.com/API-KEY-GOES-HERE/
If the fallback option doesn't work, the issue might be caused by your server firewall blocking the dynamically generated IP addresses used by Zapier.

Logging

If you are experiencing issues connecting to Zapier from Formidable Forms, install the Formidable Logs add-on and follow the instructions on that page. This will tell you more information on what is happening.

What to expect: The logs without an entry ID or action ID are incoming requests from Zapier.

Poll: The polling is getting an entry to use in the Zap settings.
Subscribe: When the Zap is turned on, subscribe is sent to create a form action. This is also sent from the Zap testing step.
Unsubscribe: While the app is getting set up, it subscribes (creates a form action) for the test, then immediately unsubscribes (deletes the form action). This deletes a form action.

We had trouble finding a sample

When testing your Zap trigger, you might encounter this error message "We had trouble finding a sample." To fix this, click the Retest & Review button and immediately submit a test entry in your form.

Cannot follow POST redirect

If you are seeing this error message, then you have used a site URL that is being automatically redirected. The most common redirect we see, is a http URL redirecting to the https version. To resolve this redirect, follow the steps below:

Create a new zap and select Formidable as the trigger.
Connect your Formidable account to Zapier.
Copy and paste the API key from Formidable → Global Settings → API.
In the site URL field, insert the URL of your site and make sure to use https:// and the trailing /.
Copy the URL into a new browser tab to visit the url. If the URL changes, copy the new URL and paste it in your Zapier settings.

Authentication failed: Got 403 calling GET

If you are seeing an error message like "Got 403 calling GET https://example.com/frm-api/v1/forms, expected 2xx", use the fallback option (recommended).

If the fallback option doesn't work, you can add this htaccess snippet to resolve the issue. Make sure to add it before the #Begin WordPress block.

Got 409 calling POST

If you are getting a 409 response when trying to activate your Zap, Zapier recommends turning the Zap ON and submitting a live data test that triggers the Zap. This should be able to pull that test into the Zap to use as sample data.

Specifically:

Turn the Zap ON
In Zapier, fill out the steps until the “Customize Entry - Find Data” section.
Click the “Test Trigger” button. You’ll see the error from before.
Go back to your Formidable form and fill it out.
Right after you submit the entry, go back to Zapier and click the “Test Trigger” button.

410 Error: Gone

Typically, the 410 error will appear if the form that a Zap is connected to has changed, often having added or removed fields that the Zap was using. Zapier doesn't always know how to react if it is receiving data it doesn't expect.

While the failed response is accompanied by a 200 success code, and won't actually affect the data being received, you can prevent this error from appearing in the Logs by following the steps below:

Go through each step in creating a Zap. Make sure fields are correctly set up.
If this doesn't fix it, set up a new Zap and deactivate the old one.

429 Error: Too many requests

If you encounter a 429 error, it indicates that your server has too much traffic. Waiting for a bit before reaccessing the server should resolve this issue.

DataPostError: Problem creating authentication

If you encounter this error message DataPostError: Problem creating authentication: Our computers took too long when trying to connect to Zapier, it is most likely caused by a server-level captcha provided by Siteground.

If the fallback option didn't work, the issue might be caused by your server firewall blocking the dynamically generated IP addresses used by Zapier. Try the following steps to resolve the issue:

In Zapier, go to your Apps and try reconnecting to Formidable Forms. Ensure there are no extra spaces when copying and pasting your API key.
Disable any firewalls on your computer or network.
Contact your host to see if they can disable any server firewalls.

Duplicated options in Zaps

When Formidable sends an entry to Zapier, it includes both the field ID and the field key for each field. When mapping entry data to the Zap, these will both show with the same data. For example, if your form has an email address field, you might see both of these in Zapier:

"xmbgyl": "user@mysite.com",
"31": "user@mysite.com",

The first is sending the value by field key and the second one by field ID. It is expected to give you more flexibility. It won’t make a difference which option you select as they are both the same.

No target URL

When connecting your Formidable Forms app account to Zapier, you might encounter the error message: The app returned "No target URL provided in". Check if your site URL is using the correct protocol, either http:// or https:// , and has the trailing slash at the end.